With increased globalization of agricultural markets, greater demands are placed on producers of milk and milk products. Milk is produced as inexpensively as possible while conforming to high quality standards. Large quantities of milk are produced in automatic or semiautomatic milking plants.
Dairy milking systems can include a cluster of teat cups matched with flexible teat cup liners. The teat cups are attached to a teat of a dairy animal with a vacuum to facilitate movement of the flexible liner to milk the dairy animals. Milk flows from the dairy animal through each flexible liner and then through a short milk tube to a milker unit collecting bowl assembly, which collects milk from all of the animal's teats. Milk from individual animals flow from each collecting bowl assembly through a long milk tube and into a milk line that receives milk from all of the milker units in the dairy. The milk is then chilled and stored in a milk tank. The milk lines and storage systems must not be contaminated with dirt, debris, chemicals, pathogens, or contaminated milk. This milker unit can be used to milk cows, sheep, goats, and other dairy animals. Each milker unit can be used to milk multiple animals, thus necessitating sanitization measures to prevent transmission of dirt and bacteria into the milk and diseases transmitted between animals.
A dairy's somatic cell count (i.e., “SCC”) is the bacteria count in the final milk product. SCC levels are monitored to comply with state and federal milk quality standards. To avoid elevated SCC levels, dairies take disinfecting measures such as a teat pre-dip, for example. Broadened milk ducts in dairy animals' teats make the teats especially susceptible to infection from mastitis pathogens. The teats can be treated with a disinfectant solution, its application process known as pre-dipping. Prior automatic teat dip applicators and milker unit cleaner systems fail to adequately ensure that teat dip compositions and backflushing fluids do not enter the long milk tube and contaminate the dairy milk lines. Differential pressures between the milk lines, dipping, and backflushing devices can cause seepage into the milking system.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved ozone delivery system that uses ozonated water to safely disinfect dairy animal tissues, dairy equipment, and infrastructure, and reduce the need for harmful chemical disinfectants around a dairy.